Effects of fat-supplemented diets on plasma lipoproteins and the apoprotein/lipid ratios in rabbits.

Male white New Zealand rabbits were maintained for 4 weeks on one of the following diets: (1) normal chow diet, (2) chow plus 1% cholesterol and 3% coconut oil, (3) diet 2 plus 100 IU alpha-tocopherol, and (4) diet 2 plus 100 ml 10% alcohol daily. Total serum cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides were significantly increased with diets 2, 3, 4. These diets resulted in a shift in distribution of the lipid transported so that a much greater percentage was transported in LDL and VLDL and a much smaller fraction in HDL. The ratio of protein to lipid decreased drastically in LDL in groups 2, 3, and 4 as compared to normals; it also decreased markedly in VLDL of groups 3 and 4. The ratio of protein to lipid decreased in the HDL of group 2, but not in 3 and 4. Neither vitamin E nor alcohol supplementation changed the hyperlipemic response to the high fat diet. These data indicate that in the hyperlipidemic rabbits, the composition of VLDL and LDL were altered, and that a change in the relative distribution of lipids among the lipoprotein classes occurred.